Priorities

Who would have thought we'd feel the effects of a earthquake and a hurricane in one week...in New York City.  I'm beginning to think it's us.  It was the Katrina anniversary after all, and what a better way to celebrate than to ride out a hurricane  We got to watch and listen to NYC, and the entire east coast, fall into a tizzy with Irene on her way.

Now I don't mean to sound callous, but I must admit I think it's only fair that someone other than the Gulf South gets to experience the fun of hurricane season.  I'm not wishing death or destruction upon anyone, but I'd love someone else to feel the sting of 100% increases in home owners' insurance policies and have to endure outsiders questioning whether a region, their region, their home, was worth rebuilding.  And I thought better to hit here than at home;  always have to protect home.

Hearing the chatter of "this might be like Katrina" raised those protective instincts as well.  Please don't even think about talking about my city.  She's not perfect, but she's mine.  I think the east coast was determined to do it better than New Orleans had, and why shouldn't they I suppose.  There is a lot to be learned from our experience.

Charlie and I have a few things to teach folks about riding out a storm though, beginning with getting priorities straight.  Charlie was able to slip into the market minutes before they closed on Saturday.  He found the water shelves empty...

But he was there for beer.  We didn't want to be stuck in this apartment with two children and no power without beer.  Seriously.

Luckily we never lost power, and our beer stayed cold.  Lucky for the city, the hurricane didn't make much of a showing here.  Some street and basement flooding and downed trees, but all minor stuff. Our little island in the East River, east of Manhattan, had a handful of large trees down and with high tide water lapped over the edges of the bank.  Today public transportation is back up and running and most of the city is back to business as usual.

Picture taken this morning

Charlie was thankful we didn't have a yard and house to worry over with this hurricane. The car was already parked high in a garage, so that wasn't a concern.  There were no insurance papers to collect or photos to pack or discussions about when and where to evacuate.  No time was spent dusting off the generator of filling up gas cans.  All good stuff.  But I sure wish the beer in the fridge was Abita.